Spiffy talking shit

Im going to try really hard not to make this column a commercial for SSS Promotions so please bear with me if it seems like a shameless plug. I just got done promoting my first big boy show with Rusted Root this weekend. Ive never done anything like that before, so suffice to say I was more than a bit nervous.

Thankfully with a lot of hard work and some great people showing me the ropes over the past couple of months, the show went off without a hitch, and we ended up drawing over 1,000 people to SSS Promotions very first rock show ever. The best compliment that I think I was paid came from one of the engineers, who at the end of the show complimented me on how smoothly things went. I then told him that it was my first show ever, and he thought I was just being a smart-ass. When the sound guy confirmed my statement, the engineer just laughed and shook his head. If guys who have been doing it for 20 years couldnt tell that I had no clue what I was doing: Mission accomplished.

Fake it till ya make it. A buddy of mine who manages a bar in Pittsburgh told me that a few years ago when I was still struggling to find work for my band, Walk of Shame. He was alluding more to the need to be able to bullshit venues into booking us than somehow convincing national artists to work with my company but the point rings true. Im coming up on my 4th anniversary with WoS, and its both awesome and humbling to see where I was 4 years ago compared to now.

I do good business. You can make money with me. You dont have to like me. You dont have to like working with me. If you like money, youll do business with me.

I give a lot of credit to professional wrestling for my success as a promoter with no actual experience in promoting. Ive worked enough places to know what works, and what does not work when it comes to putting on a show. The actual performance is secondary: Its all about the hype, the packaging its style over substance. In talking to some of my wrestling friends lately it seems that thing have not changed that much in the past decade.

The professional wrestling business is the perfect bastard child of carnival working grifters and talented performers. There are TONS of parallels:

There are 1,000 shitty bands out there trying to make it, just like there are 1,000 shitty wrestlers in jean-shorts trying to be the next John Cena.

You want to talk about ego? You know how every parent thinks their kid is the best? Try dealing with bands or wrestlers who feel they are getting screwed or passed over when another band or wrestler gets a better spot on a show.

Haters gonna hate. Its a lot of people in the industry talking shit to a lot of other people in the industry.

There are 1,000 shitty promoters out there taking advantage of young wrestlers and young bands alike just trying to get some experience and exposure.

That last one is probably the revelation that I had this past weekend. There are music promoters who think by printing out some tickets and opening the doors to a dive bar that they are going to be successful. There are a lot of wrestling promoters who set up a ring and print out some tickets that think that just because 100 rednecks find the venue that they have somehow been successful. What I learned is that there is a BIG difference between the people who make it IN THIS BUSINESS (said in my HHH voice) and those who will be doing the same thing a decade later.

You could do what some smart businesspeople do, and fuck your way to the top.

We all know them. We have all seen them. The band playing the same dive bar for a decade talking about how they are going to make it. Weve all seen the local wrestler who has been putting on the same basic match to the same 100 fans for a decade who thinks the WWE is going to call him tomorrow.

Because you NEVER know when your next match is gonna be.

And then We see a few bands make it. We see a few wrestlers that we used to wrestle with leave, and end up on TNA, or the WWE. Hey man, I remember when Kings of Leon opened for US maaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

Then we hate.

My buddy just got signed to a WWE developmental deal. I was there for literally his first match ever like 13 years ago. I was driving Samu (former WWE Tag Champ, and a great mentor to me in the wrestling business) to a show that we were both booked on in the Cleveland, Ohio area. This scrawny kid was staying in the hotel room next to me, and we talked a bit. He was going by the gimmick The Wifebeater at the time (which actually caused some national controversy a couple of years later). Long story short, the workers ended up hazing the kid after the show. They taped him down to a picnic table outside the hotel, and took turns laying some chops in on him. Samu was the finale, busting the kids chest open with a few 350-pound Samoan chops. That kid is Chris Hero, AkA one of The Kings of Wrestling in Ring of Honor and now AkA, WWE developmental wrestler Kassius Ohno. After busting his ass for 13 years, he paid his dues, and made it.

My point is this: No promoter got him where he needed to get. Chris got HIMSELF over. Chris made something happen for HIMSELF. Hulk Hogan used to be hated by a lot of the other wrestlers in the back because he was getting a lot more money than they were. He famously said, Everyone cuts their own deal, brother meaning hey, dont get pissed off at ME for negotiating a better deal than you.

Wrestlers and musicians are generally not smart businessmen. Its not a lack of talent that holds them back, its a lack of brains.

I think about running some wrestling shows. When I say run, I mean actually run, promote, market, advertise, and organize. I havent seen an indy fed really successfully do that outside of the old ECW, and now Ring of Honor a bit. There are a lot of really talented wrestlers in the Western PA area who are wrestling in the same building with the same guys for the same crappy pay every month, and thats not their full potential at all. When was the last time you saw actual flyers out for a wrestling show? Heard a commercial on the radio? Saw a spot on TV?

Exactly.

So once again, thank you pro wrestling for giving me an early course on dealing with shady promoters, and understanding how to work in a business that is designed to make money off of the people with actual talent who are out there performing. I feel bad the the bar has dropped so low that the talent getting paid at all is considered to be some sort of event on par with seeing a unicorn but thats where the bar is right now. If wrestlers werent generally stupid people, theyd know how to command a better payday. If promoters werent generally lazy extortionists living off of the hard work of others, there would be more money to go around.

I mean, my FIRST show as a promoter just sold out over 1,000 tickets sold at $20-$25 a pop. I think weve got some upside here.

Ive been on all sides now. Ive been the wrestler, Ive been the guy in a band. Ive been the booker of a wrestling show, Ive been the promoter of a concert. I like having perspective from every angle. I think it helps me do better business. My advice to the guys who right now are busting their asses and hearing negative things from other musicians, or wrestlers fuck em. Do YOUR thing. When you have moved on, theyll STILL be talking about you, and how much better they are than you, and how you didnt earn your spot, and how you got lucky, and how its all politics, and how life just isnt fair.

But theyll be doing it from the same shitty indy show that they were on 10 years ago. Theyll be doing it from the same smoke-filled dive bar that you guys played together back in 2005.

Where will YOU be?

Last edited by indymessageboard on February 21st, 2012, 12:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

I honestly feel bad for the guy at this point. He just seems like a very insecure person. Let him be the way he is, he is like that for a reason. Who knows what bad things went on in his life to make him the way he is.

After reading it, it is one of Spiffy's more intelligent posts. I don't see him hating on anybody, shockingly. He is usually full of bashing others though, or doing exactly what he is saying to ignore.

Chris Hero is out at WWE, you would think that such a good friend would know that deal was never signed. That trip to Cleveland.. is that the same one Samu punched him in the face, knocking him out in the parking lot, tossing him in the car and leaving him. That was awesome. Spiffy stories are a dime a dozen. His band draws no one, he has been fred from more jobs than anyone, and the best part is there was no Rusted Root show. My Buddy makes all of their concert shirts nation wide, and there was no show. Spifff-o is at it again.

Chris Hero is out at WWE, you would think that such a good friend would know that deal was never signed.

- actually Hero did sign the deal, and is down at FCW as "Kassius Ohno"

That trip to Cleveland.. is that the same one Samu punched him in the face, knocking him out in the parking lot, tossing him in the car and leaving him.

- I don't know anything about this, but I'm not sure how he could be knocked out in the parking lot, and then tossed IN to the car and left at the show.

That was awesome. Spiffy stories are a dime a dozen. His band draws no one

- What's his bands name?

he has been fred from more jobs than anyone, and the best part is there was no Rusted Root show. My Buddy makes all of their concert shirts nation wide, and there was no show. Spifff-o is at it again. \

- I took 5 seconds and went on Rusted Root's facebook page and found this:

Backstabbing Good People
Just wanna thank Walk of Shame, Rusted Root, Mr. Spiffy Styles, Butler PA Days Inn, Apples and Airplanes, Cave and all of the crew that helped make last night a huge success. Also a HUGE thanks is deserved to all the fans who came out to support us in Butler.